Search for survivors called off in Taiwan

Rescuers ended their search of a Taiwan building partially toppled by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake as the last trapped pair were found dead, bringing the final death toll to 17.

AFP

05:10 UTC+8, 2018-02-12
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Reuters

An engineer measures a collapsed building after an earthquake hit Hualien, Taiwan on Saturday.

Rescuers yesterday ended their search of a Taiwan building partially toppled by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake as the last trapped pair were found dead, bringing the final death toll to 17.

Thousands of emergency workers had combed through rubble at the foot of the 12-story Yun Tsui apartment block since the quake struck the eastern city of Hualien late last Tuesday.

It was left leaning at around a 50-degree angle by the quake, hampering rescue efforts due to fears of an imminent collapse.

Hualien Mayor Fu Kun-chi said the last two victims were pinned under heavy pillars that could not be removed without risking a total collapse of the building, and the rescue was called off with the consent of their relatives.

Excavators began digging through the building from the top later yesterday to try to recover the bodies, he added.

The last pair are believed to be members of a family from Beijing who arrived in Taiwan last Monday, authorities said. The bodies of three other members of the family including a boy aged 12 were recovered on Saturday. They were staying in a second-floor room at a hotel in the Yun Tsui building when the quake struck.

Fourteen of the 17 people who were killed perished in the building.

The 17 victims include nine from China’s mainland, five from Taiwan, one from the Philippines and two from Canada.

A total of 285 people were injured.

Three partially collapsed buildings in Hualien are being demolished, including the local landmark Marshal Hotel where one employee was killed.

Hualien, on Taiwan’s picturesque east coast, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the quake-probe island.

Taiwan’s worst tremor in recent decades was a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 1999 that killed around 2,400 people.

That quake ushered in stricter building codes but many of Taiwan’s older buildings remain perilously vulnerable to even moderate tremors.